


Domesticated

by jucee



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-02
Updated: 2012-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 14:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jucee/pseuds/jucee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Squalo, Xanxus and Bester make an unusual family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Domesticated

When Xanxus opens his box weapon for the first time, a huge animal leaps out and charges at him. It gets to within a foot of Xanxus, at which point it suddenly stops, growls thoughtfully, then lowers its head with a soft whimper.

Xanxus glares down at it, and it turns over to expose its belly hopefully.

“I think it likes you,” Squalo says.

“Of course it does, how can anyone not like the boss?” Levi asks nobody in particular, looking at Xanxus in a way that makes Squalo want to poke his eyes out with a blunt spoon.

“Actually, I don’t like him,” Fran says with all the expression of a piece of cardboard.

“Shh, you’re not meant to say that _out loud_ ,” Bel mock-whispers, and throws two knives at Fran’s head just because he can.

“Ow,” Fran says.

Lussuria leans down to rub the animal’s belly, making it purr so loudly that the floor shakes. “I think it does like you, Boss,” he says. “What’re you going to name it?”

Xanxus glares at all of them, then turns on his heel and stalks away without saying a word. The animal -- some kind of lion, it seems, though it has stripes like a tiger -- quickly gets to its feet and trots out of the room after him.

“Let’s call it Bester,” Squalo says.

***

Squalo goes to see Xanxus before leaving for a mission, and finds him sitting behind his desk, with Bester napping on the floor beside him.

“You spend more time with that thing than you do with me,” Squalo says, only realising after the words are out of his mouth that he sounds like a nagging woman.

“I try not to spend any time with you when I can help it,” Xanxus replies, not even looking up from the report that he’s reading.

“Fuck you,” Squalo mutters.

“Maybe later,” Xanxus says, and absentmindedly places a hand on Bester’s head.

Squalo glares at him, and at Bester, and at the way Xanxus’s long fingers are gently stroking Bester’s fur, and he turns on his heel and stalks out of the room.

***

Squalo walks into the bedroom to find his side of the bed occupied by a box weapon with sharp teeth and a hungry gleam in its red eyes. He briefly considers giving Bester the ass-kicking that it’s looking for, but decides that he’s too tired after his mission to waste time that could be better spent sleeping.

He shoves Xanxus closer to the middle of the bed so that he has enough space to crawl in too, and as his eyes drift shut, he murmurs, “Bester stinks.”

Without opening his eyes, Xanxus inhales, then growls, “I think that’s you.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Squalo says on a yawn, and his last thought before he falls asleep is that they must look very cosy in bed together, two assassins snuggled up against a giant man-eating liger.


End file.
